The Tree Of Life * Terrence Malick (2011)

“The Tree Of Life” is what you can call a “difficult film”. It is extremely “artsy fartsy” and thus probably not for everyone. The film opens with some pretty heavy scenes about a family that lost their oldest son. The family is very religious and some three quarters of an hour follow in which the parents wonder how God could have done such a thing. Malick comes with very long earth and space documentary scenes, the purpose of which is not entirely clear to me. Does Malick try to set the death of the boy against the grandeur and magnitude of Creation? After much amazing imaginary, the film turns back to being a film and we learn about the history of the family. Malick keeps using a minimalistic approach with long stretched scenes and little dialogue.
I guess “The Tree Of Life” is a ‘love it or hate it’. I find the approach daring, perhaps overdone, but why should every film be the same? Interesting for sure. Not much of a ‘feeling good’ film, but what the heck?